Bertel

Boys' name

Shining

Bertel has been given to 115 babies in the U.S. since 1913. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1916, with 12 recorded.

Babies named Bertel, 1944

1 in 538,000

Bertel over time, 1880–2025

Boys

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Bertel: meaning, origin, and history

Shining

Danish and German

What Bertel means

Bertel means “shining”.

Origin, language, and formation

Bertel is used in Danish and Norwegian Bokmål. Its origins include Danish and German.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Berthold and Bertil.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Norwegian Bokmål, Bertel is pronounced /ˈbær.təl/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 115 boys were recorded with the name Bertel between 1913 and 1944. Its highest annual count was 12 in 1916; its best national rank was #2,276 in 1916.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Bertel?

Bertel had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1944, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1944: 1 in 538,000; 5 of 2,689,998 births
Among boys only: 1 in 273,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 1944: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 372,914 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Bertel sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1944 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 372,914 children born in 1944 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Bertel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Bertels were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Bertel was born before 1920 — so the typical Bertel is around 105 today.

Median birth year: 1920; About 105 years old
Biggest decade: 1910s; 47.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 53.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 0; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1910s — 47.0% of all recorded uses (54).

Is Bertel rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1916 (12)
Years since peak: 109; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 30.7% average annual change
Best rank ever: #2,276; 1916

Spellings of Bertel

Bertel is not the most common spelling — Bert is, with 55.1% against Bertel's 0.19%.

Bert55.1%33,585
Jerel5.9%3,612
Terrel4.9%2,961
Jerrel4.0%2,448
Estel3.9%2,374
Beryl3.8%2,338
Berton3.1%1,874
Martel2.8%1,696

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Bertel by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #2,276; 1916
Peak year: 1916; 12 that year
First recorded: 1913
Last recorded: 1944
All-time count: 115
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Bertel

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Berish Beric Bergen Berel Bereket Berley Kartel Beryle Berlyn Berlie Bernal Bernon Beren Berger Berkay Berman Berwyn Berney Bertran Bernd Berdell Bertin Berend Bernarr

Sibling names for Bertel

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Era Leatha Leone Artie Alpha Hettie Cecil Ona

For a brother

Winfield Dorsey Isadore Aloysius Hyman Regis Sydney Meyer

Explore around Bertel

Top names of 1916, Bertel's peak year The 1910s in full Other names that peaked in 1916 Boys' names starting with B